


new eden

by krtrs



Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, One Shot, Platonic Relationships, Pre-Canon, Pre-Slash, Sad Crowley (Good Omens), Short, some fire is involved, takes place in babylon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2020-05-18 17:49:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19339516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/krtrs/pseuds/krtrs
Summary: “It looks warm,” Crowley said finally. “Doesn’t it?”





	new eden

The gardens were burning. Decades worth of work lost to the gnashing teeth of death, the boiling licks of flame. Mithridates and his army had taken the city, determined to burn it to the ground if they had to. And all Crowley would do was watch.

He sat cross-legged, shoulders slouched, on a ridge just outside the city. His eyes fixed on the towering blaze eating away his prized creation. He’d spent a lifetime tending to those plants. He’d been fond of them. Never even shouted a cruel word or threatened a painful end. But his affection had been for nothing.

He didn’t move as footsteps approached him, his gaze never leaving the red painted city of Babylon.

“You knew this would happen.” It wasn’t a question, just a statement.

“I…” Aziraphale hesitated. It was the only answer that Crowley needed. “Yes.”

The Serpent nodded slowly.

“I’m sorry, dear,” the angel spoke again in earnest. “I know how much you liked the hanging gardens.”

There was a long pause before Crowley responded. And when he did, it was soft and toneless. Maybe it was a defence mechanism. Or maybe he really couldn’t feel anything. But it was possible that he was simply feeling too much. “I was making a new Eden.”

“Oh, _Crowley_.” The devastated sigh that came from the angel would’ve broken Crowley’s heart in two if it weren’t already left shattered in the rubble of the gardens. Crowley had loved EdenーAziraphale knew that, he just didn’t realise how much.

The Garden had been his paradise. Cast out of Heaven, and outcasted in Hell, it was his only true home. He cared for each plant with patience and words of encouragement. The greenery knew he loved them, and he’d hoped they loved him in return. They might’ve been the only things on the whole planet to do so. And then he’d lost them, just as he’d lost Divinity. Shoved out of the Garden alongside the humans he’d tempted into sin, whose immortality had been stripped away by an angry Mother. He hadn’t known the Almighty would react so badly as to throw away Her favourite children.

He’d watched Eden disappear then, just as he watched Babylon now.

Aziraphale was sitting next to him now, a gentle hand placed on his shoulder. Yellow eyes turned amber in the light cast by the flames. The sun was setting and the air was getting cold.

The hanging gardens of Babylon had been Crowley’s first, and last, attempt to recreate the Garden. Kindness in regards to life had gotten him nowhere. He’d lost everything he’d ever had mercy on. Fear and anger invariably replaced compassion in the end, and he refused to lose anything more.

Without another word, Crowley got to his feet, Aziraphale scrambling after him. “Crowley?”

The demon still wasn’t looking at him, his pained, ash-covered expression lit up by reds and oranges. He was starting to shiver.

“It looks warm,” Crowley said finally. His voice was barely above a whisper, but Aziraphale caught his meaning, brows stitching together in concern. “Doesn’t it?”

“Crowley, wait,” he pleaded as Crowley’s sandals slid forward in the sand, movements slow and mechanical. The angel gripped his Adversary’s arm, trying to tug him away from the city. Crowley had made up his mind, easily shaking him off. “Please don’t.”

Aziraphale stood frozen as his enemyーwho’d become more like a friendーwalked back into the city. Back into the flames. Back into his New Eden.

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first time ever posting on ao3 (though i've been reading here for quite a while) so if anyone notices a problem that needs to be fixed pls tell me
> 
> hope you enjoyed this bit, and if you did, feel free to leave kudos or a comment!
> 
> \- karter <3


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